Clifford Hatts (Obituary, 25 September) designed many memorable productions for BBC Television, including Quatermass and the Pit. I wonder if he was also involved in what for me was more memorable – Hancock and the Pit, a spoof of the sci-fi serial.
I particularly recall an exchange in which Tony Hancock asks Sid James what he would do if an alien appeared. James says he would give it “a punch up the bracket”. “Has it occurred to you,” retorts Hancock, “that a Martian might not have a bracket to be punched up?”
The fact, as you report, that Ridley Scott was one of Hatts’ disciples leads me to speculate that this might have subconciously inspired the Alien franchise. The monster of the Nostromo was demonstrably without a bracket.
John Allison
Warwick
